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Kinda half looking at new frame (maybe bike) options as my trusty Alpine is heading into its 6th year but everything seems to have gone absolutely mental expensive. Five frames are north of £2000, similar to stuff like Starlings. Theres the Privateer and Airdrop frames which look ok.
Is there a world of half decent full sus frames for sub £1500 that I'm just not aware of?
The sonder evol, and Bird bikes spring to my mind...
Commencal frames, albeit with no shock...
https://www.commencal-store.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp?ActionID=67174912&PBCATID=3717850
Paul's Cycles has some bargain carbon Rocky Mountain and Transition frames from 2018-19
Got to be looking at Bird and Sonder for that money frame only really.
Sonder Cortex and Evol are both 29er.
Bird Aether 7 and AM160 are 650b
Bird Aether 9a and AM9 are 29er.
I’ve no experience of Sonder but I’ve had two Bird frames so far and they’ve both been great and the customer service is also superb.
I've ended up ordering an Aether 7 Dave after looking at everything out there but my options were limited by wanting to stick with 27.5.
And my history is full of bike like this one, original Mega, Airdrop edit with a couple of second hand Cotics.
The Edit has been great and its a second hand, ex demo and has been very reliable and I think its attractive too.
I've gone with a whole bike for once to make the move to boost, metric, etc. I did consider the Five but spec wise its no comparison.
Bird AM160 here. No problems so far and also experienced excellent customer service. I was buying a full bike though and another considerable advantage there is you can pick and choose absolutely everything.
I would a spend a few 100 more and look at the Banshee Frames. The Titan is excellent. It climbs and descends better than most 29ers I have owned/tried. Norco Optic, Sight, Privateer etc. Think there are some deals around. I picked up a new Rune V3 frame as well for 1600.
I'd avoid the Airdrop unless you are really good at TIG welding 🙂
The trouble with buying just a frame is that few/little of your 6 year old stuff will port over - and buying parts is a seriously expensive game compared to getting them on a bike.
Look at Vitus.
Bird AM9.
Amazing bike, regardless of price. Will excel at anything between a lighter "AM" build to a complete HD enduro race configuration. Pedals really really well and is amazingly durable and reliable. The thing just works
The trouble with buying just a frame is that few/little of your 6 year old stuff will port over – and buying parts is a seriously expensive game compared to getting them on a bike.
Look at Vitus.
As long as the ‘donor bike’ is the right wheelsize / tapered steerer fork, other than boost there’s probably not a lot else that won’t fit. And most wheelsets can be boosted either with a specific kit or one of those velosolo generic boost kits.
That’s assuming you buy frame and shock obvs - most bikes now are metric shocks.
Vitus are a decent enough value brand - but their stock availability has been a shocker since lockdown.
Cheers all. My existing components (should I wish to use them) are all boostable etc so not overly fussed about that.
Jason - can see your point about bringing everything up to date with boost etc. To be honest, it makes no difference to me how wide my hubs are but given the prices of the Birds, I'd be seriously tempted to go for a full bike (I've just gone mad with their configurator with purple Hope stuff!).
Bird were quite ahead of the curve on long, low and slack geometry so even a 2nd hand frame from a few years ago will compare to current models. You could get a bargain and still be up to date with boost and long reach etc.
Or go direct to manufacturers. https://chinertown.com/index.php for research.
Commencal Meta 29 would be where my money'd land.
Privateer 141 or 161 frame sets are £1450. Both are really good (had a short blast on a 161 and a slightly longer spin around FOD Verderers on the 141) and liked both.
Guessing the Cotic Jeht probably slightly out of budget at £1799. That's where my money would be going if I ever end up with any spare
Isn’t the alpine a 650b bike though and the Jeht is 29er?
Edit - I think both privateers are too.
Privateers are 29r unless you want a small.
The Jeht has certainly interested me - moreso if the far eastern made frames are a bit cheaper.
Privateers look brilliant but the couple of reviews I've read haven't been entirely positive.
the problem is lockdown and there being no bikes to buy anywhere as they are all sold out. then brexit and there being less imported bikes.
parts and bits are more expensive as a result (even second hand)
I can do you a large Empire MX6 evo frame, shock and some spares for a sensible price if you want it. I`ve just bought an EEB so i cant see it being used much...